Red Pin Contract Campaign
Hello fellow Horizon Air AFA members.
September marks the time in negotiations where your Negotiations Committee and Management have decided to meet and present what we believe are the “meat and potatoes” of the contract or the “Big 3”. When we meet on September 17th through the 19th, your AFA Negotiations Committee will make a first pass at our proposals for Article 3, Compensation and Article 19, Benefits and Management will be passing over for the first time, their proposal for Article 5, Hours of Service. You will find the AFA Contract Opener on our AFA website: www.afahorizon.org. It’s located in the archives and for your convenience, we will be placing it back on the main page for easier reference. The AFA Contract Opener lets you know what your Negotiating Team will be directing our energy on (based on the survey results from last winter, taken by members).
The Negotiations Committee has created a bag tag for all of us to utilize for our crew bags as a show of unity during this next stage of negotiations. The bag tag is a product of two key items management used to “inspire us”. We chose the slogan “Do the Right Thing” as it is a core value and part of the Service Framework for Horizon Air. We thought reminding management of their own values would resonate and send a clear message. The other side of the bag tag is a word cloud. Most of you who attended Flight Path this year will recognize it. In our negotiations survey to Flight Attendants, we asked for a one-word answer to what positive change you would like to see happen as a result of negotiations. Remember, when management see’s all of us wanting the same thing, it sends a message of support for improvements to our contract. Our strength at the table comes directly from you and your support and adding the bag tag to your crew luggage shows that support. The bag tags will be dropped in everyone’s company mailbox tomorrow, September 4th. Please place them on your crew bags, let’s show management we want and deserve a better contract. All the hard work we have given should be recognized in the form of better pay, improved work rules and benefits, incentives, and more. We have increased our work productivity all in the name of saving Horizon Air and it has shown each quarter there are record profits. It’s now our turn to share in the success that the productivity has brought to Horizon Air.
After negotiations have finished on September 19th, your fellow flight attendants and ACT Chairs, Jennifer Levcun and Sirkka Haagen along with the many flight attendant ACTivists will be handing out our red AFA pin as things are “heating up” at the negotiations table! This will be the time to switch out from our everyday white AFA pin to the red pin, as a sign of solidarity. Let’s show management we’re serious and expecting a positive change for our work efforts over the last few years, especially.
Our ask of you during these next few months, please put the bag tag on, wear your red AFA pin and ask questions. Educate yourselves on what’s happening and let us know what you want to see! We are only as strong as you make us at that negotiating table. We are your voice! Let it be heard, loud and clear.
In solidarity,
Your Negotiating Committee,
Ed Hawes, Tanya Phillips, Joelle Jaeger & Kimberley Chaput